Black Butler now has a digital manga home for westerners! Square Enix just announced that the hit manga series is now available on its manga reading website, with 14 volumes available for free reading today. This addition celebrates Black Butler: Public School Arc, which airs beginning this month. In addition to this news, the application now includes a monthly unlimited subscription option for $4.99 a month.
About Black Butler on MANGA UP!
SQUARE ENIX serves manga readers outside of Japan with the global version of its MANGA UP! manga app. The global version launched in July 2022 and had been downloaded more than one million times as of October 2023. The app provides English translations of popular ongoing manga series like Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, My Happy Marriage, and The Apothecary Diaries with the goal of delivering Japanese titles to international readers as quickly as possible.
To welcome the addition of Black Butler to the lineup of global MANGA UP! titles, chapters based on content up leading up to the first episode of the new anime series, Black Butler: Public School Arc, will be made free for a limited time. This allows readers to enjoy the source material just as the anime series is getting started. The Company plans to make future installments, which are being published in print in the Monthly G Fantasy magazine, available on the app at the same time as the Japanese versions.
The anime series Black Butler: Public School Arc will be on air and streaming starting in April 2024.
Vault Pass Details
In related news, Square Enix also released a new tier for its manga reading service. Previously, readers could use UP, XP, and COIN currencies to read chapters from the app. Now, a new Vault Pass service will allow everyone to read over 10,000 chapters for a low monthly fee. Some newer chapters of series like My Happy Marriage and A Man & His Cat are only available through the above means. However, some series will be available to read in their entirety, such as Fullmetal Alchemist. This is a great new direction for the application, and rivals competition such as VIZ with its VIZ Manga and Shonen Jump subscriptions.
MANGA UP! is available now on iOS and Android devices. Are you ready to read your backlog of Square Enix manga? What’s your thoughts on MANGA UP! and the new Vault Pass? Stay tuned for more manga news here on Miso!
